Desire to compete motivates Comets' Phillips

Desire to compete motivates PhillipsComets veteran continues to prove valuable to team

W.H. STICKNEY JR., Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle

Published
5:30 am CDT, Friday, May 12, 2006

Quietly, Comets reserve center Tari Phillips has nudged into that group of players who are the foundation of the WNBA heading toward the rocking chair.

Competitive fires rage within the seven-year WNBA pro. But like each of her cohorts, Phillips, who came to the Comets as a free agent last year after a solid career with the New York Liberty, knows that one day she must yield to the inevitable.

"I believe that something that you love to do, you try to do it as long as you can," she said. "And doing that, the process of getting to that point, it takes a toll on your body, your mind, your whole aura. I believe some people look forward to it.

"And then there can be a hiatus in your life, when other things in your life take more precedence, they're more in the forefront of your life. Maybe basketball is not so important, not so prevalent in your life at that particular moment. Sometimes, there are days that I feel like my legs are still in the glove compartment, or in the overhead compartment of a plane.

"(But) there are many times when I'm just amazed at the energy level that I may have and the resilience that is still there. That's what I try to live and play off of."

Lifetime of basketball

Phillips is one of the few Central Florida graduates who have found a way to extend their sports careers beyond college. It has been a big part of her life since she began playing basketball competitively 23 years ago at 13.

"That was just 10 years ago," she said, jokingly.

The 6-2 Phillips played three years at Georgia before transferring to Central Florida.

Phillips, who played as a pro overseas, was one of the former American Basketball League performers who came to the WNBA after the former organization declared bankruptcy and went out of business in 1998.

In 1999, Phillips played in all 32 games with the WNBA Orlando Miracle, then a year later was traded to New York. In her first season with the Liberty, Phillips was an alternate on the WNBA All-Star East squad and went on to be named the league's Most Improved Player.

After six seasons, when her contract in New York expired, Phillips decided to experience life in the Western Conference. She knows what she's capable of, but there were times when doing it as a Comet was difficult.

"I've always believed in my ability. Striving for a championship, that's the most important thing," she said.

Leads the charge

If she so desired, Phillips probably could pursue a career as a singer. She sang the national anthem before the 2001 WNBA All-Star Game and last year did the same before a Comets home game.

She was sweet music for the Comets over the final third of the season and into the playoffs. After missing the playoffs for the first time in 2004, the Comets were back last summer.

Coach Van Chancellor has said if not for Phillips, the Comets might never have made it to the Western Conference semifinals.

"We wouldn't have beaten Seattle if it weren't for Tari," he said.

The Comets lost the opener of the best-of-three opening-round series with the Storm then swept the defending WNBA champs in two games in Seattle during which Phillips proved invaluable.

"So many games, just off the top of my head, come to mind where she pitched in," Comets assistant Kevin Cook said.

Phillips said that whenever her career as a player ends, she'll "be doing the same things that I do now with basketball."

That entails heading up an expanding portfolio of businesses, singing and working with youths.

If for some reason Phillips would have to retire from playing, she said she would "probably have to find some other avenue, and when no one's looking, jump out there on the court anyway.

"It's still in my heart, still in my blood. I still have the desire to play."

william.stickney@chron.com

COMETS SUMMARY

Injury update

Sheryl Swoopes
was given permission to miss practice Thursday by coach
Van Chancellor
to take care of an unspecified medical problem unrelated to basketball, he said.

Chancellor also limited the activity of point guard Dominique Canty, who Wednesday reinjured the right knee that has given her problems the past three years.

And Tina Thompson (sprained right ankle) was held out of workouts for the fourth straight day.

Chancellor said Canty and Swoopes will be on the floor Saturday night when the Comets face the Mystics in Washington, D.C., in the second preseason game; Thompson probably will remain sidelined.

Improved workouts

The Comets haven't played since May 3 when they defeated the Charlotte Sting 77-66 at
Toyota Center
.

Chancellor said the time off has been beneficial to his team. That's due in large measure, he said, to workouts the Comets have had against a team of men.

"I had met Reggie Dixon, the former Harlem Globetrotter, and just called him on a whim the other night," Chancellor said. "I asked him to get up a bunch of guys; he got me together a heck of a team here that's organized. That's really improved us. We've gotten a lot better."